Semiconductor chips are continually being made smaller with the goals of increasing both device speed and circuit density. Miniaturized devices built within and upon a semiconductor substrate are spaced very closely together, and their packaging density continues to increase. As the packaging density increases, semiconductor chips are subject to electrical and physical limitations which stem from the reduced size of the areas available for their placement. Also, as products utilizing advanced electronics become more complex, they rely on larger numbers of semiconductor chips for their intended operation.
Underlying the complex nature of much sophisticated equipment is the need for communication between various semiconductor chips. As the space between chips available for signal conductor routing shrinks, the area available for communications conductors becomes increasingly limited while at the same time communications needs increase. One solution to this need for increased communications incorporates radio frequency (RF) signals for communicating within and between semiconductor chips.
Conventional semiconductor chips commonly employ integrated circuits (ICs) which operate at clock frequencies near the gigahertz frequency range. These ICs utilize on-chip and/or printed circuit board (PCB) wiring techniques for communication between active and passive circuit elements. As such clock frequencies are expected to extend high into the GHz range, and conventional wiring techniques exhibit inductive, resistive and capacitive delays which can significantly impair circuit performance. Further, performance of such on-chip or PCB components, e.g., on-chip antennas, is dominated by connections between the components and the respective complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) chip. Generally such connections are made by bond-wires, microbumps and the like.